Chapter 4: 004: The Coffin Nail of Theology

“Why are you the only one on night watch?”

The head of the bailiffs returned from his patrol to find one of his subordinates missing from his post.

“Him? A female prisoner came looking for him. He’s in the land of tenderness right now.”

The subordinate pointed toward the small slope, winking and gesturing to his superior.

This sort of thing was not uncommon on the road to exile.

If prisoners wanted to suffer less, they either needed someone in high places to call for special treatment, or relatives to pay off the guards. If they had neither, they had no choice but to use their own bodies as capital to bribe the bailiffs.

The Gong clan had been raided and exiled; their former colleagues and students were struggling to save their own skins, so how could they have the energy to look after them?

The female prisoner had only one path left to take.

It was no wonder this was considered a cushy job.

The head of the bailiffs naturally knew of this unspoken rule.

“How long has he been gone?”

“Just a little while.”

“Hmph, dereliction of duty!”

“But, given that kid’s speed, he should be about done. He’s fast; it doesn’t take him much time.”

Hearing this, the head of the bailiffs curled his lips, seemingly wanting to laugh but forcing it back, putting on a stern face.

“When he gets back, tell him—add another hour to his night watch!”

But after waiting for a while, no one returned.

Could it be that the kid actually found some useful folk remedy somewhere and cured his hidden ailment?

The bailiff couldn’t sit still. Seeing the prisoners sleeping like dead pigs, he wasn’t worried about them taking the chance to escape, so he quietly got up and followed in the direction Shen Tang and the others had gone.

He’d listen for any movement; if the two of them were about finished, he could just go up and take a turn.

As he neared the small slope, a vague sense of foreboding arose.

The activity here was all wrong!

There was neither the heavy breathing that made one’s ears burn, nor the rhythmic slapping that stirred the spirit; there was only the noisy chorus of insects and the night wind rustling through the wild grass.

“Old Zhou? Old Zhou, are you—”

He suppressed his unease, stepped forward quickly, pushed aside the dense thicket of wild grass, and called his colleague’s name.

The sound cut off abruptly.

He looked down at what he had stepped on—

An arm!

By the dim moonlight, he barely recognized that the male corpse with the eerily twisted neck was indeed the “Old Zhou” he had been talking about!

“D-dead! Someone’s dead!”

His scream brought the head of the bailiffs over.

The man was thoroughly dead, but the body was still warm and soft, not having cooled much, meaning he hadn’t been dead long.

The head of the bailiffs checked the snapped neck and wrists. Judging by the marks, it had been crushed instantly; the finger strength and grip must have been terrifying. However, the corpse showed traces of martial gall, yet the victim had been killed without putting up any decent resistance. The killer’s strength was definitely above that of a low-level *Gongshi*.

“What about that female prisoner? Was her body found?”

Seeing the corpse had been thoroughly searched, the head of the bailiffs realized something.

The subordinate replied, “N-no sign of her, just Old Zhou.”

The head of the bailiffs: “...”

The man was dead, and the female prisoner was gone?

Had someone intercepted the prisoners?

With this suspicion, his face turned black as ink.

“You go back and keep a close eye on those prisoners! If there’s anyone suspicious, kill them on the spot!”

“Yes!”

The head of the bailiffs followed the tracks Shen Tang had left behind. Before long, he saw a blurry figure running through the night.

He didn’t hesitate to nock an arrow.

The arrow left the string, flying toward Shen Tang’s back.

Killing a female prisoner with this shot was a certainty.

Who would have thought the prisoner had eyes in the back of her head? The moment the arrow was about to strike, she rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding it.

“I didn’t expect there to be a fish that slipped through the net like you!” He steered his horse over Shen Tang’s head, pulled the reins tight, and the horse stood steady, blocking her path. He said coldly and angrily, “Using the convenience of a man with a woman’s face to blend in with the female prisoners and escape—the Gong clan sure had a clever plan!”

The male Gong clan prisoners who had been raided had their *Danfu* destroyed, regardless of age.

Firstly, to prevent them from having the ability to escape, and secondly, to prevent them from seeking revenge later.

The prisoner before him was alone, with no one to meet her. It must have been “Shen Tang” using her looks as bait to lure the man out, then taking advantage of his relaxed state to ambush and kill him.

But even a relaxed low-level *Gongshi* couldn’t be killed instantly by a mere woman. Looking at the wounds, he concluded this person must possess a *Wenxin* or *Wudan*.

Since it was known that women could not possess these, the “female prisoner” before him was naturally a man.

A male prisoner who had blended into the female ranks for so long without being discovered—no need to guess, the Gong clan prisoners must have been covering for each other to protect “him.”

In summary, this person held a position of considerable importance and weight within the Gong clan. With such an important fish having slipped through the net, how could he go back and report?

In a flash, he pieced together a logical deduction.

Shen Tang climbed up from the ground.

She spat, clearing the sand and dirt from the corner of her mouth.

She happened to hear the head of the bailiffs’ words.

What did he mean by her using the convenience of a man with a woman’s face?

And calling her a “Gong thief”?

Don’t bully her just because she had no memory right now and start slapping random character settings on her!

“Heh, and what do you want then?”

After saying this, Shen Tang accidentally pulled at the wound on her cheek, and the fine, stinging pain made her gasp—she had been in too much of a hurry to dodge, and her cheek had been scraped raw by the gravel on the ground. It was burning, and she knew it was bleeding without even touching it—but her eyes remained locked on the enemy.

“Come back with me, and I’ll spare your dog life.”

Shen Tang was amused by this: “Spare my dog life? I think you’re the one spewing dog shit!”

Ugly as sin, but dreaming of beauty!

“Since we can’t reach an agreement, then—” The head of the bailiffs didn’t get angry; he simply focused his energy, a hint of killing intent flashing in his eyes. “Spear, saber, sword, halberd, bow, crossbow, dagger, axe—kill!”

Shen Tang: “...Huh?”

What did that mean?

What was he chanting out of the blue?

The question had barely popped into her mind when, the next second, she saw the longbow in the bailiff’s hand transform into a cross-halberd.

The halberd was nearly ten feet long, its cold, sharp tip thrusting straight at her face and vital points, showing absolutely no martial honor.

Shen Tang was startled by this turn of events, tilting her head and leaning back, dodging the lethal blow with agile movements.

When it came to weapons, length was strength.

The strange, ten-foot halberd was danced in the bailiff’s hands, creating a dense, impenetrable web of spear shadows, thrusting and sweeping with ease, while Shen Tang was empty-handed.

At this rate, forget about running away; she was basically a living target, and she’d be exhausted to death.

As for the setting that defied all science—transforming a weapon after chanting two lines—

She finally understood where the horse under his crotch came from.

Could this world get any more unscientific???

*Pfft!*

The tip of the halberd grazed her left arm and plunged into the dirt, making her scalp tingle. If she had been any slower, that thrust would have pierced her heart straight through!

“Spear, saber, sword, halberd, bow, crossbow...”

With her life hanging by a thread, she dodged while trying anything she could think of, wondering if she could manifest a weapon—even if women in this world couldn’t cultivate *Wudan* or *Wenxin*, why couldn’t she be the exception? As a transmigrator facing a hellish start, she should at least get a basic safety net, right?

Before she could finish, the halberd interrupted her.

The head of the bailiffs mocked, “You ants, overestimating yourselves!”

Shen Tang: “...”

In her memory, it seemed no one had ever made her feel this stifled, except for her editor! When the halberd thrust again, she grabbed the tip with her bare hands in a fit of rage and pulled.

“Enough already!”

A nameless fury rolled and burned in her chest, churning over a line of text that had abruptly surfaced.

Her intuition told her this text might be the key to breaking the deadlock. It read—

【The sword in the mother’s hand...】

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(End of chapter)